Former AFL player Liam Jurrah has been found not guilty of attacking his cousin and says he now plans to try and return to a football career.

A Northern Territory Supreme Court jury took eight hours to acquit the former Melbourne Demon after nine days of hearings.

The five men and seven women in the jury were unanimous in their decision.

Jurrah had been accused of unlawfully causing serious harm to his cousin, Basil Jurrah, during a violent night in an Alice Springs town camp last March.

His family members and supporters stood and clapped when the verdict was read out.

Outside the court Jurrah said he wanted to spend time with his family and plan his return to the AFL.

"I want to get back into it," he said.

"I'm going to take a long journey back to get back to where I want to be."

The court had heard evidence from 17 witnesses during the trial.

Jurrah, 24, had pleaded not guilty to unlawfully causing serious harm to his 35-year-old cousin during a night of violence involving members of feuding Aboriginal families at the Little Sisters town camp.

Liam Jurrah was charged and subsequently bailed, with a magistrate ordering that he leave Alice Springs until he faced trial.

Conflicting evidence

From the start of the trial in Alice Springs last week, the focus had been on the reliability of conflicting evidence from witnesses.

The court heard, variously, that Liam Jurrah had been seen carrying a machete, a stick, a crowbar, and not being armed at all.

The alleged victim of the assault admitted to being "drunk and dizzy" during the incident but testified he remembered being attacked by Liam Jurrah with a machete.

Some other witnesses also said they had been drunk.

Many said it had been too dark to see clearly.

One witness was accused by the prosecution of lying to protect Liam Jurrah.

Defence lawyer John Tippett QC told the jury that some witnesses were "lying through their teeth".

Outside court, Mr Tippett said it has been a tough year for his client and he admired how he handled himself.

"This young man has had a hell of a lot riding on his shoulders and this is just a culmination of a lot of them," he said.

"It's the sort of stuff that I wouldn't want to happen to me and it's a thing that's cross-cultural.

"We have great expectations of him. His Aboriginal community, his family have great expectations and we have put a lot on his plate."

'Whole picture'

For the prosecution, lawyer Stephen Robson told the jury that all evidence given should be assessed as a whole to get the "whole picture".

He said while some of the stories varied, the "core" of the evidence was the same.

Chief Justice Trevor Riley told the jury to look for "honesty and accuracy" in the evidence.

He said the jury had to be clear about what a lie was.

During the trial, family and supporters of Liam Jurrah packed public seating in the courthouse and more gathered outside.

There were several outbreaks of shouting and trading of verbal abuse among family groups outside the court.

Chief Justice Riley told the jury to ignore what was happening outside the court, but it was evident the problems at the heart of the trial were not going away.